San Diego Padres 2020 MLB Draft scouting profile: Austin Martin

What to expect

As I mentioned at the top, this may be the best all-around player in the upcoming 2020 MLB Draft.

He can certainly hit for average as he’s proved in his first two seasons. And the power potential that he showed in his sophomore season really has teams salivating.

I wouldn’t say he’s an elite base stealer, and that may regress even more as he gets bigger, but he has the potential to steal double-digit bags at the Major League level.

He’s also great at putting the ball in play as he’s walked (73) almost as much as he’s struck out (80) in his first two seasons at Vanderbilt.

Martin was the offense in the video shown lifting Vanderbilt to a 3-1 win over Louisville in the College World Series with those two bombs.

He has a pretty sweet stroke from the right side and the slow-motion video on that first home run shows you just how great he is at getting his hands inside the ball.

And he’s still able to drive it for power. On that second home run it looked like the ball got in on him and he was still was able to muscle it out of the ballpark.

The question for Martin is what position will he play?

He’s played on the left side of the infield at Vanderbilt, but some question his arm because of injuries he had in high school.

It sounds like he’ll be at least an average defender wherever he plays. And with how much teams love versatility in today’s game, it won’t hurt that he can play all over the infield.